After watching Vanda Pharmaceuticals' stock slide into the cellar in recent months, investors sent its shares into orbit after hearing that the FDA had approved its new drug for schizophrenia.
Fanapt, or iloperidone, faced a serious delay last summer when the FDA asked for more information on the drug, which was designed to offer the same benefits as existing meds without some of the serious side effects. Vanda's shares closed at $1.08 yesterday and then zoomed to $9.89 as investors responded to news that caught most analysts completely by surprise.
"The company said the FDA fell down on the job in terms of reviewing the product first time around and that's a difficult story for investors to believe," said Caris & Co.'s David Moskowitiz. "It was a difficult story for me to believe."
"There are six antipsychotics available today; why would we need another one?" CEO Mihael Polymeropoulos told Bloomberg. "The efficacy across all the drugs appears to be similar. The advantage of Fanapt is its mild safety profile."
- here's Vanda's release
- read the story from Bloomberg